The present disclosure relates generally to systems for extracting solute from source materials. In particular, systems configured to extract essential oils from solid materials are described.
Known extraction systems are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. For example, many conventional systems are unable to simultaneously extract from materials stored in a plurality of distinct containers. Rather, many existing systems are configured to extract from a single container of source material. This produces a bottleneck, requiring the user to wait for extraction to complete before the user can perform any other task associated with the extraction process. As a result, conventional systems require a wasteful, inefficient extraction methodology. Accordingly, there exists the need for a system that provides parallelism to overcome such bottlenecks.
Further, many conventional extraction systems do not allow extraction to be performed in a single, closed loop process that reclaims solvent and re-introduces the reclaimed solvent in subsequent cycles of the system. While some conventional systems allow users to manually reclaim and reuse solvent, this process is time consuming and results in an inefficient reclaim rate.
Further, many systems include no means for reclaiming previously used solvent. Because users are unable to reclaim and reuse solvent, such systems are wasteful. Further, many solvents include odorants and other impurities that may end up in extracted materials. Because the reclamation process may simultaneously purify previously used solvent, these systems may end up with a less pure end product than those that are able to reclaim and purify used solvent. Accordingly, there exists the need for a system that defines a closed loop with an at least partially automated means for reclaiming and reintroducing solvent used in previous iterations of extracting solute from a source material.
Additionally or alternatively, there exists a need for cooling reclaimed solvent to a liquid state prior to collection. Liquid solvent may be more efficiently stored than solvent that is presently a gas. As a result, cooling reclaimed solvent to a liquid state prior to collection allows users to more efficiently store reclaimed solvent. Accordingly, there exists a need for extraction systems that cool reclaimed solvent prior to collection.
Thus, there exists a need for extraction systems that improve upon and advance the design of known systems. Further, there exists a need for extraction methods that address the shortcomings of the conventional extraction systems and methodologies described above. Examples of new and useful extraction systems relevant to the needs existing in the field are discussed below.